Cannabis cultivation and marijuana production pose the greatest drug
threats to the Appalachia HIDTA region. The region comprises three marijuana
source states--Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia--that consistently
sustain high levels of outdoor cannabis cultivation. Most of the marijuana
produced in the region remains and is abused within the region; some is
transported to markets outside the HIDTA4.
The frequency of these shipments is largely unknown and remains an
intelligence gap.

Methamphetamine production, distribution, and abuse also pose formidable
drug threats to the region. Powder methamphetamine is produced locally in
small clandestine laboratories in quantities sufficient to support only
personal use and limited distribution by laboratory operators. However, the
number of such laboratories has decreased, as evidenced by declining
laboratory seizures from 2004 to 2006. Mexican DTOs, based primarily in
Atlanta, are supplanting declining local production with increasing
quantities of higher-purity ice methamphetamine produced in Mexico. The
higher purity of Mexican ice methamphetamine has drawn more abusers from all
demographic categories, including teenagers and young adults active in the
club scene.

The trafficking and abuse of diverted pharmaceuticals and cocaine,
particularly crack, are widespread and represent considerable drug threats,
while heroin and other dangerous drugs (ODDs) represent low threats to the
Appalachia HIDTA region. Diverted pharmaceuticals such as hydrocodone,
methadone, and oxycodone as well as benzodiazepines, including diazepam and
alprazolam, are the most frequently diverted pharmaceutical drugs. Caucasian
adolescents and adults are the primary abusers of diverted pharmaceuticals,
enticed in part by the ease with which they can obtain the drugs over the
Internet and from retail-level distributors. Powder cocaine is available to
varying degrees throughout the HIDTA region; some is converted to crack
cocaine at or near distribution sites. Crack cocaine abuse appears to be
increasing in some rural areas of Tennessee and West Virginia. Heroin
availability and abuse are generally low compared with the availability and abuse of other drugs in the HIDTA
region; however, Mexican black tar heroin is becoming more available than it
had been in some areas of Tennessee and, to a much lesser extent, in
southeastern Kentucky. ODDs such as MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine,
also known as ecstasy), GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate), and LSD
(lysergic acid diethylamide) are available in the region on a limited
and sporadic basis.

End Note

4. The Appalachia HIDTA reports
that these markets include cities in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland,
New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and
Washington, D.C.